I am a nerd. I’ve been one all my life. The good news is that finally, it’s OK to be a nerd. Cool, even.
It wasn’t always cool. Before technology and information took over our economy, nerds were seen as, well, nerds. Uncool by definition.
I was never cool. I wasn’t fashionable; I wore Keds sneakers and whatever was on sale in the “husky” department at JC Penney’s. I wasn’t the guy you’d call to come over and work on your hotrod Camaro. You’d call your cool friend for that. You called me when you needed help writing a book report. Then I was your best friend.
Girls didn’t like nerds much back then. I wasn’t a big hit with the ladies. When I coerced a lovely woman to marry me 22 years ago, folks were shocked; they still are.
But here’s my point: It’s cool today to be a nerd, and the nerd subculture has coalesced on a group of Web sites dedicated to something called “life hacking.”
A technology writer named Danny O’Brien created the term “life hack” after surveying a group of productive geeks on their work methods. O’Brien discovered a pattern among the most productive programmers: The best of them – the nerdiest of the nerds – all had created odd tricks and shortcuts to get their work done faster or better. O’Brien shared his research in a report called “Life Hacks: Tech Secrets of Overprolific Alpha Geeks.” The term “life hack” spread through the nerd community like a computer virus. Today there are many books, podcasts and websites on the topic. One of the goals of life hacking is to make life simpler. Life Hackers say it helps people to get more done, quickly and efficiently, life hack products with simple solutions. Merlin Mann created a blog called 43 Folders, which is one of the most popular life-hacking sites. Mann suggests having everyone stand during meetings so no one will waste time. Another suggestion from Mann is to check emails on a regular schedule rather than reacting immediately to every email that arrives. (A great many life-hacking ideas relate to managing email more effectively.)
The Hipster PDA is another life-hacking idea. It’s an alternative to using personal digital assistants, or PDAs, such as Blackberries and Palm Pilots. The Hipster PDA is simply a few index cards held together with a paper clip. It’s a “system” I’ve been using for years, since tiring of my Palm Pilot and its annoying stylus, batteries and synchronization hassles. People laugh at my low-tech notecards, but now the top geeks in the country have endorsed my system! My version of the Hipster PDA costs about a penny per notecard, plus 45 cents for a pen. My version is different in one important respect. Many nerds carry multiple index cards clipped together; I carry just one. If my new activities won’t fit on one card, that tells me that my life is full and I need to reprioritize. You’ll find much more at 43folders.com.
Lifehacker.com is a website that takes a life-hacking approach to saving money. It can tell you how to: have a meal for under $3, extend the life of your laptop battery, and keep cool in the hot weather. It tells you the best days to make major purchases and much more. It’s like Hints from Heloise on steroids.
Another site, Lifehack.org, gives daily advice on things such as how to turn around bad experiences and sleep your way to better fitness. It also gives tips for travelers, hints for people who need help beginning conversations (such as nerds), and advice on making the workday more manageable. The website has 101 Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things. Learn how you can use tape to test out nail polish colors, prevent plaster from chipping off walls when hanging pictures, and arrange flowers in a vase.
Most life hackers are focused on speed and how quickly they can finish a task. Life hacking is meant to get things done faster so that you have more time for recreation, not just so that you can get more work done. The key, life hackers say, is learning to squeeze more out of your time.
